Charter School Difference

The Charter School Difference

Charter schools are independently managed, open admission, public schools funded
by the state. First approved by the Texas legislature in 1995, charter schools
are run by private operators and boards, much like private schools, and
can offer a more specialized range of curriculum. While publicly funded by
the state, charter schools receive significantly less public funds than
comparable traditional public schools. Despite this, charter schools are held
to the same accountability standards as other public schools but do have more
freedom over hiring and removing staff.

Like traditional
public schools, charter schools are tuition-free, must publicly report their
financial and academic performance, comply with all federal laws and most state
laws and administer state testing (STAAR/TAKS). There are some unique differences, however.

Unlike
magnet schools, with applications to "screen" students, public charter
admission is open and based on lottery.

At
Uplift, we typically put K-12 on a single campus so we can align
curriculum vertically.

We
require every scholar to take four Advanced Placement course before
graduating.

We
empower school leaders to manage their budgets and make decisions about
their staff.

Uplift
scholars spend more time-on-task. We have extended days and school years.

We
provide robust college counseling and alumni support in order to prepare
every scholar be successful in college.

We
measure scholar performance against national academic levels in addition
to state and local standards.